Thank you for your interest in Swiss Chalet. I have listed below individual answers to your questions:

The supplier of our Salad Dressings have indeed changed and the Caesar Salad Dressing is now being made in a plant that does not list Peanuts as a cross contaminant.
The Chicken Pot Pie is a completely new formulation and in order to get the flavour we were seeking we did change the Pie Top and as a result Tree Nuts became a potential allergen.
The old Veggie Burger and Gravy listings were an error; they should have always listed possible exposure to Tree Nuts.
The Messy Chicken Sandwich has Tree Nuts listed because of the Gravy.
The Spinach Rotisserie Chicken Salad is unchanged, there were Tree Nuts listed on the old guide (Almonds) and they are listed on the new one as well.
The Stir-Fry as well always had exposure to Peanuts listed, what has changed is the Teriyaki Sauce used for them which no longer includes Sesame as a risk, there were never any Tree Nut risk.

The reassuring information is that none of these items except the Chicken Pot Pie, actually contain any nut products. The pie top has some coconut oil in it but the rest are free of Peanuts, Tree Nuts or Sesame Seeds in their ingredients. The unfortunate thing is that in a busy kitchen or with so many people in a restaurant there is always a risk of cross-contamination so you can never let your guard down.

Sincerely,

Corporate Dietitian.
Cara Operations Limited

I wanted further clarification on the Pot Pie: did it contain tree nuts or coconut? I was told that the crust has coconut oil, no tree nuts. Because the CFIA web page says that those with tree nut allergies can also react to coconut and nutmeg, that they (Cara) include "coconut" and "nutmeg" in their listing for "tree nuts".
I was also told that the plum sauce was no longer manufactured in a facility with peanuts.
So it seems some progress -- but also some confusion on the "tree nut" front. I think in their efforts to be as "inclusive" as possible with their updated allergen guide, they've needlessly raised red flags for some by including coconut and nutmeg as tree nuts.

We ordered chicken and baked potatoes from Swiss Chalet the other night and I was very impressed with them. A friend with allergy experience gave me advice on how to order. (It sounds more like a military operation than ordering food, but it worked! And believe it or not, I was sooo nervous about doing it. I called my poor friend about 3 times that day!)

2. I called the 1-866 number and as I was ordering I asked the person on the line to please make sure all the following info was written down on our order:
- the food is for someone with life-threatening allergies to peanut, nut, egg, and dairy
- I wanted the person preparing the food to use a new pair of gloves
- I wanted the baked potatoes UNCUT (to reduce the risk of cross-contamination)

The order-taker didn't bat an eye and typed it all down. And all the info was on the bill when I went to pick up the food.

3. I then called the restaurant that would be processing the order and re-iterated my info. The woman there was really gracious - said that all the info would be on the order that they received, but that she really appreciated that I was calling to confirm. That really impressed me, I have to say. Instead of getting the verbal "hairy eyeball", I was thanked for being vigilant!

4. When I went in to pick up the order, the girl at the counter said that they had missed the part about the uncut potatoes, so they were just re-packing the cut potatoes with uncut ones. And then she came back and said they couldn't guarantee that the (free) buns hadn't come into contain with some form of dairy, so they didn't include them. I also appreciated that - better to just not have them, in my opinion. She also said how seriously they take allergies.

Was it worth all the trouble? Totally. The chicken was delicious, and my son was so happy to have something a little different. (And his older brother was happy to have his safe take-out pizza.) And next time it'll be much less work and worry.

DH and I are quite excited - maybe on Sundays we'll have Swiss Chalet instead of his extravaganza roast beef dinners that take 3-hours to make and 1.5 hours to clean up after!

K.

There is shellfish in their gravy, and fish products in some sauces. There isn't anything that says there is shellfish in the chalet sauce.

We have ordered the rotisserie chicken, fries and salad in the past, without incident. I just noticed this disclaimer in the Allergy Guide:

*All fried products may contain one or all of the allergens in this table as the fryer oil can be a source of cross-contamination of allergens

The guide was last updated in June 2006, so this information must have been there all along, but I must have missed it (there is an asterik (*) beside the fries, but I simply did not see it). We have never had an issue, but I'm now concerned.

Does anyone with peanut/tree nut/egg/fish/sesame allergies order the fries???

Thanks lin101! Have you eaten at several locations of Swiss Chalet without incident? Just curious about the cooking practices and if they differ from one location to the other.

Aside: (NOTHING whatsoever to do with CHICKEN!) BC2007, it's interesting you should comment on our children's health and how similar they are. I've thought the same thing myself! In our case, we do have an explanation for our children's vastly different health - our kids are adopted!

I've eaten at locations in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec.... in and around Toronto, Southwestern Ontario, Niagara Region, National Capital region etc.! Lots of places - Swiss Chalet is a good go-to for me! I also have the steamed mixed veggies and chicken fingers sometimes.

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